ASEAN’s senior economic officials meet in Ha Long

Senior economic officials from ASEAN member countries are meeting in Ha Long, in Vietnam’s northern province of Quang Ninh, for the first event under Vietnam’s chairmanship of the regional bloc.

The SEOM Retreat in Ha Long, Vietnam
The SEOM Retreat in Ha Long, Vietnam

The gathering, known as SEOM Retreat, aims to outline the grouping’s economic orientations for 2020.

Under the theme of a cohesive and responsive ASEAN, Vietnam has set out three priorities in the economic pillar, namely promoting intra-regional economic linkage, strengthening the partnership for peace and sustainable development, and enhancing adaptive capacity and performance of ASEAN.

Based on the three orientations, Vietnam is formulating specific initiatives and priorities, which will be put forward for consultation with other ASEAN members before the first official SEOM meeting in January next year.

During the two-day event, which opened on November 28, the officials will also discuss the priorities of specialist working groups, the agenda for 2020, and Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN, along with other issues.